How CJ Carr’s rough night vs. BYU raises new doubts about Notre Dame’s title ceiling

news The Notre Dame quarterback had a hard time downfield versus an elite defense, leaving the Irish without any space for mistake as an early-November clash with No. 1 Miami looms

Oct 19, 2026

at 4:32 pm ET

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PROVO, Utah– Heading into Notre Dame’s star-studded match versus BYU, quarterback CJ Carr was viewed as a trump card.

The junior was predicted, by some, as a first-round choice in the 2027 NFL Draft getting in the season and among the most skilled signal-callers to come through South Bend in the modern-day period. Particularly with fairly unheralded quarterback Bear Bachmeier on the other sideline, Carr’s pedigree was deemed a significant inequality.

Rather, the space in quarterback play showed definitive as BYU managed the 28-24 upset to stun Notre Dame. And all of a sudden, a sterling case for Carr as a quarterback ends up being far more complex.

Carr entered the weekend cleaning 63% conclusion and a 155 passer score in every previous video game this season. Versus BYU, the very first elite defense on the schedule, Carr looked mortal. The junior finished a career-low 55.1% of his passes, 27-of-49 general on 5.3 backyards per pass effort. As BYU constructed a double-digit lead, Carr had a duration of finishing just 7 of 17 passes throughout the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

“I don’t know, it wasn’t the preparation,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman stated. “Some of those big plays that he usually hits, we weren’t executing on. We weren’t hitting them. I don’t know if it’s CJ’s fault, I don’t know if it’s the wide receivers’ fault or an accumulation of both.”

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Brad Crawford

news Irregular downfield

On the very first drive of the video game, Carr linked on his very first 3 passes to drive down the field, all brief passes at the edges. He dropped back on 3rd down to target a wide-open Jordan Faison spotting towards the end zone. He airmailed the go by numerous lawns.

That didn’t enhance as the video game went on.

Carr linked on only 30.4% of his passes even more than 10 lawns downfield, according to Pro Football Focus. Heading into the match, he was striking on 60.0% of such passes. Carr tried just 7.8 passes 10+ backyards downfield per video game in 6 wins; he tried 23 versus BYU.

BYU didn’t tape a sack on Carr, however he was pushed a career-high 13 times. As he attempted to require the concern, Carr’s efficiency continued to slip.

Carr has actually done a significant task of carrying out versus middling challengers. When confronted with an elite defense that might require him to make tough plays, he failed, and Notre Dame followed. The disparity enabled BYU to concentrate on the running video game, holding them to 2.4 backyards per bring in the 2nd half.

The efficiency remained in contrast to Bachmeier, who played the video game of his life. The sophomore published 224 backyards passing, 45 lawns hurrying, 15 lawns getting and 4 goals versus the No. 1 defense in college footballNotre Dame supposedly strung Bachmeier along throughout the recruiting procedure; now he’s in the leading 10 in Heisman chances.

“Out of high school, Notre Dame disrespected me and my family pretty badly,” the typically peaceful Bachmeier stated. “There was no way I was going to lose to those guys.”

news Notre Dame’s big-game problems

Considering that reaching the championship game video game in 2024 with dual-threat Riley Leonard at quarterback, Notre Dame is 2-3 versus AP Top 25 challengers with Carr at the helm. They lost all 3 video games versus groups ranked No. 16 or greater.

Notre Dame has actually not beaten an AP top-10 challenger on the roadway given that 2012, when Manti Te’o led the Irish to the nationwide title video game.

Notre Dame has actually invested the Freeman period constructing the program into a leviathan. The Irish leapt from beyond the leading 10 to No. 6 in the 247Sports Talent Composite under Freeman, and they’re No. 2 in the blue-chip ratio. Notre Dame has the skill at every position to win a championship game.

In the loss to BYU– ranked No. 53 in the skill composite– it was execution that stood apart.

“They used a lot of things that we hadn’t seen on film,” linebacker Drayk Bowen stated. “They kind of used our weaknesses against us. Now we’ll be able to go back, look at it and say, we really need to improve in these areas. It’ll be a good bye week for us.”

Carr revealed flashes of radiance throughout the video game. Notre Dame went 4-of-4 on 4th downs, that included several tight Carr passes. He marched the Irish down the field at the end of the video game to establish a prospective game-winning toss into completion zone. Notre Dame would not have actually been close without his checks.

To reach the lofty expectations, Notre Dame requires more from its gifted signal-caller. A home video game versus No. 1 Miami ends up being a must-win, or the Irish might once again discover themselves beyond the College Football Playoff.

“We’ve just gotta go back to work, do what we do, practice well all week,” Carr stated. “We’ll try to continue to string things together through the bye week and to bounce back with whoever we’ve got next.”